Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials in the public domain. These materials are published under open licenses (i.e Creative Commons) which means you can freely adopt as course materials without concern for copyright infringement. Switching from high-cost textbooks to OER not only saves students a significant amount of money, it also increases the accessibility of learning materials, removes barriers to access, and ensures course materials remain current. 

OER can include textbooks, video content, lecture notes, slide decks, assignments, test and quiz question banks, and more. You do not have to choose just one OER to adopt for a course; you can select multiple resources to fit your course and learners best, maximizing academic freedom and optimizing learning potential. 

The College encourages faculty to adopt Open Educational Resources (OER) when possible to lower the cost of education for our students. Adopting OER is easy and efficient! NICC library staff and the Department of Instructional Innovation & Design (DIID) team can answer OER questions and assist you with locating OER resources. In addition, the DIID Team has several AI tools available to help quickly create activities and assessments from your chosen OER.

For more information on OER and how you can make learning more accessible, visit these resources:

• Quality Course Design Website: OER resources developed by the Department of Instructional Innovation and Design

• IOWA Open Education Action Team: a statewide group that supports affordable higher education for students in the state of Iowa.

• Open Education Network: a consortium of colleges and universities working to advance open education initiatives.